CHIMNEY ROCK, N.C. (WNCN) — Firefighters have been working around the clock – most of them on 12-hour shifts.
The focus isn’t just on containing the fire; it’s also about protecting homes.
The Party Rock fire is just part of a larger wildfire that has burned approximately 4,500 acres of land. The North Carolina Forest Service took CBS North Carolina’s Amy Cutler to the fire zone on Tuesday to show them just how close the flames came to the Village of Chimney Rock.
Chimney Rock, a normally busy tourist town, is empty due to a mandatory evacuation that was ordered. Near the town, just off U.S. Route 74/U.S. Route 64, flames were spotted.
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More than 200 people have been hospitalized with breathing difficulties in Tennessee as wildfires scorched across the Southeast. Over 30 large fires have burned more than 80,000 acres in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service.
“Dry weather, high winds and the continuing drought is driving the large growth of fires,” Dave Martin of the US Forest Service’s Southern Region said earlier this week. And because the fires are spread out over several states, agencies’ resources are being depleted, he added.
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, about 250 residents have been hospitalized since November 1 with shortness of breath and other respiratory issues, according to the state’s Emergency Management Agency. More than half of them got treatment after last Friday as residents struggled with heavy smoke and poor air quality.
Emergency workers in Tennessee have been trying to contain 67 fires burning nearly 16,000 acres. At least 15 new fires flared up Tuesday, according to the agency.
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